Photoshop Text Effects: Wrapping Text in 3D

Step 7: Use Free Transform To Distort The Text Into A 3D Perspective

Now comes the fun part. We're going to convert our text into 3D! Or at least, we're going to create the illusion that it's 3D, anyway. Photoshop isn't a true 3D program, but we can still fake it. To do that, we'll use Photoshop's Free Transform command. With the type layer selected in the Layers palette, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up the Free Transform handles around the text:

To bend my text into a 3D perspective, I'm going to hold down Ctrl+Alt (Win) / Command+Option (Mac) and then drag the Free Transform handle in the top right corner in towards the center of the planet. The further inward I drag, the more of a 3D perspective I create with my text:

When you're happy with the way your text looks, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept the transformation:

Step 8: Add A Layer Mask To The Text Layer

Things are definitely starting to look more 3D, except for one minor detail. Our text isn't wrapping around the object, it's just sitting there in front of it. To really give us a 3D look, we need to hide the text in the areas where it's supposed to be behind the object, and we can do that using a layer mask. With the text layer still selected, click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

This adds a layer mask to the text layer, and it also adds a layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette. We can tell that the layer mask is currently selected because the thumbnail has a white highlight border around it: